BROWNCOAT ASTRONAUT SET TO 'RISE AGAIN' by out2theblack

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

BROWNCOAT ASTRONAUT SET TO 'RISE AGAIN'

POSTED BY: OUT2THEBLACK
UPDATED: Friday, March 13, 2009 10:03
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Monday, March 9, 2009 11:45 AM

'...After around-the-clock work to resolve concern about suspect hydrogen valves, the shuttle Discovery is set for launch Wednesday on a four-spacewalk mission to attach a final set of solar arrays to the international space station. The huge solar panels, stretching 240 feet tip to tip, are the last major U.S.-built station components scheduled for launch on a space shuttle.

The first of five missions planned for 2009, STS-119 also will ferry Japan's first long-duration station flier - shuttle veteran Koichi Wakata - to the lab complex and bring flight engineer Sandra Magnus back to Earth after four months in space.

Launch is targeted for 9:20 p.m. EDT Wednesday, roughly the moment Earth's rotation carries launch pad 39A into the plane of the space station's orbit. Forecasters are predicting a 90 percent chance of good weather Wednesday and Thursday, decreasing slightly to 80 percent on Friday.

"The vehicle's looking real good, the weather's looking real good," Mike Moses, chairman of NASA's Mission Management Team at the Kennedy Space Center, told reporters today . "I need a piece of wood to knock on, but I think we've got a really good shot Wednesday."

Joining Wakata aboard Discovery will be commander Lee Archambault, rookie pilot Dominic "Tony" Antonelli, shuttle and station veteran John Phillips, and spacewalkers Steven Swanson, Richard Arnold and Joseph Acaba.

Arnold and Acaba are former school teachers, selected as "educator-astronauts" and following in the footsteps of Barbara Morgan, Christa McAuliffe's backup in NASA's original Teacher in Space program.

But unlike McAuliffe and even Morgan, Arnold and Acaba will have no time for teaching.

Archambault is making his second flight and his first as commander. Swanson also is making his second flight while Phillips, veteran of a long-duration station tour of duty in 2005, will be logging his third space mission.

Assuming an on-time liftoff, Archambault will guide Discovery to a docking with the space station around 6:30 p.m. on March 13. The shuttle astronauts will be welcomed aboard the station by Magnus, commander Mike Fincke and flight engineer Yury Lonchakov.

Swanson and Arnold plan to stage a spacewalk two days later to attach the new solar array truss segment. Three more spacewalks by Swanson, Arnold and Acaba, working in two-man teams, are planned for March 17, 19 and 21. Undocking is targeted for March 23 with landing back at the Kennedy Space Center expected around 3:27 p.m. on March 25.'

http://ct.cbsnews.com/clicks?t=137448260-7902476e45fd688ac445f01ff29ef
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http://www.breakingatmo.com/

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Monday, March 9, 2009 11:52 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

Swanson is the 'so very pretty' fellow at center , in the cap of a 'Brownish Color'...

Spacecraft Commander Lee Archambault is at far left .

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Monday, March 9, 2009 12:27 PM

OUT2THEBLACK

Sorry , C-L , I didn't see your prior thread :

http://www.fireflyfans.net/mthread.asp?b=2&t=37181

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Friday, March 13, 2009 10:03 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

Repairs Work Proceeds - Weather Forecast is Good
Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:52:40 AM EDT

"...Repairs are under way on the Ground Umbilical Carrier Plate (GUCP) interface, where gaseous hydrogen leaked during Wednesday's launch attempt. The interface then will be retested and leak checked before Sunday's 7:43 p.m. launch attempt. The Mission Management Team will meet on Saturday at 1 p.m. to review the data and the progress of the teams, and make a final determination on the launch. A Prelaunch News Conference will be held no earlier than 3 p.m. following Saturday's MMT.

The weather forecast calls for an 80 percent chance of acceptable conditions at launch time. Meteorologists are watching for low cloud ceilings, Shuttle Weather Officer Kathy Winters said. The forecast deteriorates for potential Monday and Tuesday attempts.

The mission would last 13 days if Discovery launches Sunday. The astronauts would perform three spacewalks during the flight.

Discovery's astronauts awoke at 9 a.m. and underwent standard medical exams at 10 a.m. Commander Lee Archambault and Pilot Tony Antonelli will practice landings in the Shuttle Training Aircraft at 7 p.m."

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html

http://www.breakingatmo.com/status/2007/06/meet-your-browncoat-astrona
ut

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